Jim_S
Gone But Not Forgotten
Mary Doyle Keefe, Norman Rockwell’s model for ‘Rosie the Riveter,’ dies at 92
By Emily Langer April 23 The Washington Post
Mary Doyle Keefe was a young telephone operator, with no experience in riveting, when a neighbor in Arlington, Vt., asked whether she would pose for a painting.
The neighbor was Norman Rockwell, and the painting was “Rosie the Riveter,” the iconic image of a red-haired, red-lipped bruiser of a woman with a rivet gun in the lap of her overalls and her heavy foot atop a copy of Hitler’s manifesto “Mein Kampf.”
On May 29, 1943, midway between the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the Allied victory in World War II, the painting appeared on the cover of the Memorial Day issue of the Saturday Evening Post. It later decorated posters advertising government bonds to finance the war effort.
Seen by millions, the painting became one of Rockwell’s most celebrated images and was credited with capturing the plucky spirit of American women who filled the factory jobs left behind by men who had gone off to war. Mrs. Keefe received $10 for her efforts — $5 for each of two sessions with the photographer assisting Rockwell — and what she described as a feeling of privilege and pride.
Mrs. Keefe, 92, died April 21 at an assisted-living community in Simsbury, Conn. The cause was complications from pneumonia, her son Bill Keefe said.
More at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...ce2128-e9c3-11e4-9767-6276fc9b0ada_story.html
By Emily Langer April 23 The Washington Post
Mary Doyle Keefe was a young telephone operator, with no experience in riveting, when a neighbor in Arlington, Vt., asked whether she would pose for a painting.
The neighbor was Norman Rockwell, and the painting was “Rosie the Riveter,” the iconic image of a red-haired, red-lipped bruiser of a woman with a rivet gun in the lap of her overalls and her heavy foot atop a copy of Hitler’s manifesto “Mein Kampf.”
On May 29, 1943, midway between the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the Allied victory in World War II, the painting appeared on the cover of the Memorial Day issue of the Saturday Evening Post. It later decorated posters advertising government bonds to finance the war effort.
Seen by millions, the painting became one of Rockwell’s most celebrated images and was credited with capturing the plucky spirit of American women who filled the factory jobs left behind by men who had gone off to war. Mrs. Keefe received $10 for her efforts — $5 for each of two sessions with the photographer assisting Rockwell — and what she described as a feeling of privilege and pride.
Mrs. Keefe, 92, died April 21 at an assisted-living community in Simsbury, Conn. The cause was complications from pneumonia, her son Bill Keefe said.
More at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...ce2128-e9c3-11e4-9767-6276fc9b0ada_story.html
